15 Best Closet Organizing Systems That Won’t Break the Bank

August 4, 2016

I don’t know about you, but the arrival of warmer temps (kind of) has me on a major spring cleaning binge. It must be biological or something, because I really do get in a clean-out everything kick when it starts to warm up. My latest project is tackling our walk-in closet. When you live in NYC, space is limited, so we’re really lucky to have a walk-in closet, but I also have a ton of clothes, which makes sharing one with my husband a struggle sometimes. It’s really big (again, by NYC standards), and yet it’s overflowing and no matter how many times I organize it, it quickly devolves into a mess. I’ve come to realize that it’s the set up more than anything and we could do a much better job at maximizing the space. I’ve always done with makeshift one-off organizers I’ve purchased on sale or whatever, hesitating to commit to a complete closet overhaul or pricey organizers in a rental. But honestly, I’ve probably ended up spending as much as I would on an organizing system over time on all my one-off organizers and they’re either to wide or too narrow or whatever for the space, especially when all put together.

The closet is also not set up in the most space-conscious way. For some reason, the racks on both sides are really low with shelves above them that offer tons of space but we never fill because it’s too much space up there. And then there’s all this space in the back that gets underutilized. My solution has been to buy a new dresser or storage container to put in the bedroom or wherever, but I’ve finally, decided that the smarter move would be to house everything in the closet (especially since the downside is that rather than being located in our bedroom, it’s located outside of it, off our living room – NYC apartment living, sigh), and to spend a quart of the money I probably would on a dresser to invest in a really good closet organizing system. It’s going to take some handiwork on our part because the current set up with the shelves and rods needs to be taken down for this to work but I think our lives are going to be so much easier and our apartment will feel so much more clean and make so much more sense, so I’m forcing myself to commit this weekend and not cheap out again.

To that end, I’m researching the best closet organizing systems because if I’m going to do this, I want it to be awesome. And because I’m just not going to invest in California Closets (my dream) for a rental (but one day!), so I need to find an alternative that I can do myself (or I should say we, since I’m going to recruit my poor husband in the whole building of this project? (I’m more of the ideas person)). After hours and hours of research, here’s what I’ve narrowed down the list to for the best closet organizing systems. Let me know if you have any other suggestions or feedback!